CIRCUIT CITY STORE TO OPEN IN CAPE

Circuit City, a giant retailer of brand-name consumer electronics, is coming to Cape Girardeau.

The company, headquartered at Richmond, Va., has been looking at the Cape Girardeau market for a number of months. Despite the announcement, no official date for opening has been set, said Erica Eades, a spokesperson at Circuit City headquarters.

The store will occupy a new building in Cape West Business Park.

The Circuit City Group conducts business in a number of operations -- Circuit City Superstores, Circuit City Express, which is a mall-based electronic store; electronics stores only, and stores for car audio and security systems. There are also service centers and product repair centers in the company.

The Cape Girardeau operation will be a Circuit City Superstore, said Eades.

Circuit City was founded 50 years ago at Richmond as Ward Co. Today, there are more than 580 stores; nearly 500 of them are Superstores. The company plans to open another 40 stores this year.

The Cape Girardeau store will join Superstores in St. Louis, Columbia and Springfield.

There are seven stores in the St. Louis area and one each at Columbia and Springfield, said Eades. The company has six stores in Kentucky, including one at Paducah.

Circuit City has reported record sales in 1999.

During the first quarter, sales were at $2.69 billion, up from the $2.27 billion during the same period a year ago. In May, sales were up 10 percent, to $97 million, up from $82 million the same month a year ago. The company opened six new Superstores last month.